Gender and regional disparities in enrolment and academic achievement in Kenya: implications for education planning.
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Date
2010-12-01
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Abstract
According to the requirements of the educational millennium development goals, countries are supposed
to ensure that by 2015, children everywhere, boys and girls alike complete a full course of primary education and eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education by 2005 and at all levels by
2015. In line with this requirement, the Kenya government introduced free primary education (FPE)
in 2003 and free secondary education in 2008 particularly for day schools. Enrolment in both primary
school and secondary school has increased tremendously. This paper examines and highlights the patterns of gender and regional disparities in enrolment and academic achievement in the country. It shows
that despite the general increase in enrolment at all levels of education in most regions; the enrolment of
boys still exceeds that of girls. The situation is worse North Eastern where enrolment has remained very
low despite government interventions. While enrolment figures offer a lot of hope, the situation is grim
in academic achievement. Near parity in enrolment in many regions has failed to translate into parity
in academic achievement. The girls register low achievement in national examinations when compared
to boys nationally and in their respective regions in the country. The paper focuses on the 2009 Kenya
Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) and Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) results
because it is the most immediate examination year. Where possible, other years have been used for comparison purposes. This paper argues that it is not enough to have girls in school. They have to benefit from
the system by achieving quality grades which will in turn guarantee placement in marketable courses
especially those required to drive the economy. Educational planners and policy makers should shift the
campaign from enrolment and participation to achievement particularly that of girls.
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Keywords
Gender disparity, Enrolment, Regions and achievement